Bodybuilding.com - The New Two-Week Plan!

Printable page

Did you know?
British bodybuilder Selwyn Cotterill routinely Incline Presses 405 lbs and most times works up to 500 lbs!

Through years of reading those magazines, doing football workouts and watching the bigger and older guys in the gym I figured out a plan that I thought would be the best for me. I devised this plan with a few key lagging body parts in mind.

By: Jason Bennett

For the last 5 years I have been blasting my body with the basic hardcore fundamental lifts to help build the best foundation I could. After reading Bob's article about creating a solid foundation it inspired me to share a new practice I have begun as my body has finally started to develop nicely and it is time to start shaping a few areas.

I began lifting weights when I was 14 years old and my dad would have to drop me off at the high school weight room during the summers. Like everyone when they first start, I didn't know what the heck I was doing. My pops had a few magazines lying around the house that I would pick up and read, but had no clue what they were saying. This was about the same time that ESPN was showing the Flex sponsored shows with Shawn Ray and Kevin Levrone in tights pumping iron in that sweet disco room.

Through years of reading those magazines, doing football workouts and watching the bigger and older guys in the gym I figured out a plan that I thought would be the best for me. It ended up being perfect, Squatting, Dead lifting and Bench Pressing, and a few other basic lifts. This has proven to yield great results for me, but it was time to start adding a few extras into the mix.

So there was a time when I sort of got away from all that and was doing a more "fancy pancy" type workout, and what I noticed was that my body got soft and my strength started to go away. Well this was no good, I knew I had to get back into the real snizzle if I wanted to get big again. So I devised this two-week rotation that is focused around the three main lifts, but still allows for other fancy exercises.

I devised this plan with a few key lagging body parts in mind. I knew I had to get more outer sweep in my quads, more prominent rear delts, a better tuck in the lower pec, and much bigger arms. But at the same time, I still wanted to be strong and fundamentally sound.

Sample Workout

So this is what I came up with:

Monday 1: Legs

Standing one legged Curls

Tuesday 1: Delts, traps (light triceps)

Barbell Shrugs

DB Shrugs

Bent Over rear laterals

DB military press

Side laterals

Front raises

For light triceps I do the following:

One arm reverse grip tricep pushdown 4x12
Over the head rope cable extension 4x12
One arm overhead DB extension 4x12

All of these are light, easy and fast, it takes about 10 minutes max to get these in. The point of this is that with the military presses I have already engaged my triceps and just want to pump a little more blood in their until the weekend when I blast arms

Wednesday 1: Rest

Thursday 1: Back and (light biceps)

Bent over Barbell rows

One arm DB rows

T-bar rows

Seated rope pulls to the ears*

* Use a rope pulley.

This exercise really targets the rear delts and that is why I do it. You'll see in the delt workout I only do one exercise for rear delts, that is because I do this exercise two days later on back day. This is just like doing seated rows, but you use a rope and pull your hands from your feet up to your ears, keeping your elbows out and up.

Light biceps

Again this takes 10 minutes max and I just run through it:
Reverse Grip Barbell curls 4x10
One arm DB preacher curl 4x12
Hammer Curls 4x10

Friday 1: Chest

Notice this week I am doing two movements for the lower pec and only one exercise for the upper pec, this is because during my delt workout I have done front raises. Next week I will not include front raises, use more upper pec and no flat movements.

Saturday 1: Arms

All super sets:

Standing BB Curls

Skull Crushers

Incline DB curls

Overhead Tricep Extensions

Sunday 1: Rest

Monday 2: We are back to legs, however this week we do

Front Squats

Hack Squats

Extensions

Nothing for Hamstrings, because this week we dead lift.

Tuesday 2: Delts, traps (light triceps)

Bent Over Rear Laterals

Rear Delt Machine

Behind the neck Smith Machine Press

Lean Forward side laterals

Light Triceps, same as above.

You see, this delt #2 workout really focuses on the rear delt all in one day. You'll see that combine with a day of rest and back workout #2 it works out perfect

Wednesday 2: Rest

Thursday 2: Back (light Biceps)

Dead lift

Bent Over BB Rows

Light Biceps (same as above)

Friday 2: Chest

Here we have focused on just the incline and decline because this is really what my chest needs. Forever all I ever did for chest was flat movements, 10 sets of bench presses and 6 sets of flys since the beginning, so my chest lags the chest/delt tie in and a good under cut.

Saturday 2: Arms

All super sets:

Conclusion

So as you can see I am still doing all the basic hard-core lifts, but also doing other heavy lifts that are similar to the fundamentals. Doing the Dead lifts and regular Squats on separate weeks really helps my body recover and prepare for the next workouts.

When I was power lifting and doing all three lifts in the same week, I wasn't performing as many ancillary lifts to supplement them. So, if you are lagging in the same areas I am give this a shot, or if it is different areas tailor this so it fits you perfectly. However never forget the basics.